World Conservation Day
Celebrating Mother’s Day for Mother Nature x
What a whale calf, a song passed down for generations, and World Nature Conservation Day taught me about connection.
I want to tell you about Bobby, a baby whale I swam with in the Moorea shores.
He was only weeks old, still working out how to use his own body in the water. I was in the water, watching him swim, not quite realising what was happening, until he was closer. And closer. Until we were almost nose to nose. Almost kissing.
An Experience I’ll Never Forget
I could have reached out to touch him. I didn't. A swimmer's job in that moment is to stay out of the whale's way. But I was in so much awe, I held myself there, barely breathing, while this enormous, brand-new creature chose to come and meet me. It was only last minute that I realised what was happening and had to swim backwards - very quickly - so we didn't collide!
When I climbed back onto the boat, I cried. I couldn't believe a baby whale had no fear of me, and this encounter completely undid me. Never before had I been so affected by an interaction with another Being.
In fact, I didn't just cry… I cried my eyes out – and that encounter, and the emotions it created went viral, I think because we all yearn for such an awe-inspiring connection with the wild.
(You can see it the emotions and the magic moment just here!)
The song lines of the sea
People call the migration route up our coast the "whale highway." But the more I learn, the more that word feels too small. What's really moving along that coastline is a songline; song passed down and shared between whales across generations, a kind of learning and communication far older than anything we've built.
First Nations peoples have understood the ocean as one connected, living story for tens of thousands of years. I'm still learning how deep that runs. (If you want somewhere to start, there's a beautiful children's book about whales called, Gurawul the Whale by Max Dulumunmun Harrison. ( Begin there, like I did.)
This week is World Nature Conservation Day, and the whole idea behind it is that nothing in nature stands alone. I can't think of a better example than a whale. The song depends on the pod. The pod depends on the ocean. The ocean depends on the smallest things living in it. Pull one thread and the whole thing moves.
Why I paint them
When I draw an animal I've met with my own eyes, it takes me straight back to the moment; the connection, the joy. And I know not everyone gets that moment. Most people never will.
So I make the work hoping it carries a little of that feeling to you. Hoping it brings you one step closer to standing face to face with one of these creatures yourself.
A portrait of Bobby - to become part of my upcoming whale exhibition!
Hope, right now
Here's what I keep holding onto lately: hope isn't theoretical.
As I write this, word is going round that Migaloo, the famous white whale (not seen for certain since 2020 and quietly feared lost), may have just surfaced off Port Macquarie. Nobody's certain just yet. But scientists are asking all of us to keep our eyes on the water. That not-knowing? It feels like hope to me.
And there's more. White humpback calves — extremely rare — have been appearing. My friend Alice Forrest, a marine biologist, captured photos and videos of a white calf from the waters of Tonga last year, and I couldn't look away. Those images, good news stories, and my experience swimming with Bobby are all a big part of why the whale exhibition I'm building even exists. They lit something in me, passion and inspiration. And I know, by sharing these beautiful Beings, allowing others to get up close and look in their eyes, we’ll inspire more action and awareness to help protect these wonderful Beings of the Sea, Which brings me to…
One Small Thing
If all of this makes you want to do something to help to get involved, but you're not sure what , here's one small, real thing.
The Bob Brown Foundation is fighting to stop industrial krill fishing in the Antarctic. Krill are tiny, and they are everything: the base of the food chain for whales, penguins, seals, the lot. They're being scooped up to make supplements we don't actually need. You can add your name in about thirty seconds, and send it to a friend while you're there.
We ended commercial whaling once, through nothing more than ordinary people deciding enough was enough. We can protect what whales eat the same way.
Come with Me
If you want to come with me on the bigger journey; the whale exhibition, and the road that's leading all the way to swimming with these giants and bringing that story home, I'd love you there from the very start. I'll be sharing how it all comes together, and how you can be part of making it happen, with the people on my list first.
[→ Sign up to follow the road to the exhibition] — no spam, just the meaningful moments.
For now, the whales are where my hands keep going. I'm excited to go big again, and, just as much, to make smaller, more affordable pieces, so that anyone who feels this can bring a whale home. Watch this space.
When those pieces land, every one will carry a donation to the Bob Brown Foundation with it. A whale on your wall that also helps protect the real ones out there. That's the whole idea behind Art For Purpose — your choice, connected to something bigger.
Nothing in the ocean swims alone. Neither do we.
Art for purpose. Always.
Jaimee x